A lot of us already have a Gmail account or something else. What are you guys planning on doing to take advantage of the Push e-mail that Mobile Me will be offering? I've thought about automatically forwarding all my Gmail stuff to a Mobile Me account, but what about making sure that e-mails that I send end up in Gmail. Also, probably my biggest worry is that e-mail accounts are usually so easily spam filled that I'd rather use an e-mail address that can easily be replaced when sending e-mails to people.

This is something that I was thinking about myself as soon as I saw the MobileMe stuff.

I've only very recently moved from an ISP based email and desktop calendar application to both Google's Mail and Calendar. I find I like them a lot. It would be a real hassle to convert to another system and let all my contacts, family and friends know that I have new details.

But MobileMe looks veeery interesting, especially the push functionality, so i'll be keeping an eye on it, especially any information purtaining to the use of non MobileMe email accounts.

I am VERY happy. And I guess we can finally put to rest the notion that EDGE on the iPhone is anywhere near as fast as 3G (almost as fast, real-world, as WiFi? Whoa.)

As I recall, the argument was that an EDGE iPhone vs. 3G in many other phones resulted in little difference, because of OS X, WebKit, the much faster CPU and more RAM.

We can potentially see further evidence of this with this pic for the keynote...

Quote:

Originally Posted by merdhead

HAs anyone noticed some of the negatives of the new phone:

- it's thicker
- still with the 2Mpx camera

Don't forget that it has no front facing camera, no flash, no HW zoom, plastic backing, still locked, same resolution display and no A2DP.

PS: I missed today's window. I forget to put in my buy order for 176.50 until after the keynote was half over. By then it hit a low of 175.50. I'll be watching the after hours trading to see what tomorrow may bring as there should be another dip tomorrow.

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

I'm a little disappointed that Apple makes such a big deal out of the iPhone as a storefront (like the developers weren't aware that their apps could actually be sold to iPhone users). I felt like all the demos were missing was a "Just $9.99!" tag graphic. The games looked a bit silly, who's really going to sit on an airplane holding their iPhone like a steering wheel and driving a virtual caveman around? For kids? That's what a DS is for, and it'll never be interrupted by a phone call for daddy. I think the iPhone has huge gaming potential, but it seems in its awkward infancy right now. Once it gets closer to the DS' 70 million units sold, I'll bet there's a lot better selection. Xmas 09 for the first game that really blows people's minds.

The price is right ($199 is very reasonable), second gen hardware probably won't get left behind for a while, my service plan is month-to-month on Sprint. Time to buy.

With the way the iTouch users have been treated ($20 for January software update, $10 for v2.0), I wouldn't buy one for love or money. Of course, iTouch users don't have to have a cell plan to use their device, but they probably won't get embedded GPS either.

Yeah on that subject you must be devastated that the new phone has GPS. I guess you're not going to buy it because of that hey?

It looks like iPhone 3G still doesn't support voice dialing. What's with that? Handsfree cell phone use while driving is becoming mandatory in most states and much of Europe, and dialing while driving is probably more dangerous than talking while driving. Nearly every cell phone has this feature. And every mac since about 1990 has supported voice recognition. This should have been a no-brainer on iPhone 1; there's no excuse for omitting it on the new one.

My car's bluetooth lets me voice dial through my iPhone. So it's not a big concern to me. But you raise a good point.

Still, I'd rather see auto manufacturers get on the ball and start including built-in bluetooth in all new cars, even if the government has to force them to do it. If they need to include airbags, seat belts, and those stupid break lights in the center of the rear window, they should be required to have built-in bluetooth by now. I'm tired of almost getting hit by people holding their phones while driving.

With the new pricing, what's going to happen to the iTouch, which is still priced at $299 for 8 Gb, $399 for 16 GB, and $499 for 32 GB?

Also what about the 8 GB $199 Nano?

Maybe the Nano can make it on size, though I don't know, but the iTouch is now really out of touch.

Is Apple trying to get people off those products?

I think the iPod Touch was a stopgap for the overly expensive iPhone that Apple knew not everybody would want or be able to buy (because of cell phone contact or cost). I think Apple will likely drop it entirely or it will replace the iPod Classic.

The iPhone 2.0 is impressive, even though I'm sorry there was no video chat ability with an iSight camera on the front and full iChat - including with PC users. I'm thinking that we are, to some degree, where we were before iTunes was made available to PC users. Maybe in time for the holiday selling season or MWSF 09.

Question of the week: If you buy your new Mac during the back to school promotion can you apply the iPod discount to the new iPhone?

Another surprise is the lack of more memory. Maybe that's also in the cards for an iChat version hopefully arriving later.

Overall an impressive presentation. Hopefully someone will be there for the session on Snow Leopard scheduled for after lunch.

Memory equals power draw.

The iTouch isn't a phone, where the receiver is on all the same time, so it's not as important.

I think the iPod Touch was a stopgap for the overly expensive iPhone that Apple knew not everybody would want or be able to buy (because of cell phone contact or cost). I think Apple will likely drop it entirely or it will replace the iPod Classic.

Well, that's the rub. It can't do either right now.

Until Flash RAM becomes a lot cheaper, the iPod Classic is going to have to stick around. Maybe by this time next year, we'll have a 128 GB Touch, and then the Classic can go away. But not yet.

And until Apple can convince the entire world to switch cell phones, the iPhone can't replace the Touch. It's not just about price; some people are required by work to use a Blackberry or WinCE device. No reason to stop making stand alone music players altogether, or limit yourself to the tiny nano.

I agree with you 100%. Like you said, I just hope they are not tracking with this data. In fact, did you read about this "study" where mobile users were tracked without their permission? It was either on CNN (online) or on The BBC (online).

It's not likely they would be doing it, or that data center they bought would get filled up pretty quick!

What would be the point? It's not as though it would be useful to them.

I could see the cell companies needing some of that data. But they alreadt know how much service they need from the calls that go through.

The only ones who would really need that date would be the government for investigations.

Evidence: Apple Store, iPhone site, and Apple press release make no mention of future online sales. They only mention the Apple retail store and AT&T retail store as "where to buy". The original 2007 press release of the iPhone mentioned the online stores (Apple and AT&T), but the new press release does not and mentions only the brick-and-mortar stores. This is not an accidental omission.

Theory: the iPhone's price drop is possible because cost is now subsidized by the $10 increase in the service plan. To get an iPhone you will now be required to show up in person and sign up for a plan on the spot, to promote lock-in.

You'd think this would be news but Apple didn't announce this change and we're left to connect the dots.

But you can still pick one up at an Apple store with no activation or pushy AT&T sales people. The lack of an online option is probably to drive customers to Apple stores to see macs as well, and to deal with the incredible demand.

As I recall, the argument was that an EDGE iPhone vs. 3G in many other phones resulted in little difference, because of OS X, WebKit, the much faster CPU and more RAM.

That was only part of it, and I fully agreed with that part.

But some ppl took it further, and were saying things like there was no point to 3G, EDGE was nearly as fast, EDGE has way better latency (not true, btw), etc. etc. Obviously, they were quite wrong about it.

Quote:

We can potentially see further evidence of this with this pic for the keynote...

Yup. As I've said repeatedly, a 3G iPhone will positively FLY on the 'net.

/me happy

Quote:

Don't forget that it has no front facing camera, no flash, no HW zoom, plastic backing, still locked, same resolution display and no A2DP.

I didn't see any mention of a task manager. It appears even Mobile Me (which looks fantastic by the way) completely overlooks this important feature. What gives? Does Apple think we don't do anything important enough to keep a list of what needs to be done?

Just say no to MacMall. They don't honor their promotions and won't respond to customer inquiries. There are better retailers out there.

I am totally deflated about this. The fact that simple functionality still hasn't been implemented is maddening. And I still don't understand why everyone wants to video chat. I don't know a single person who video chats, and it would kill cellular bandwidth on top of the fact that you can't do anything else while you use it. The entire concept, as it stands right now, is absurd.

Apple will know where I am. Not a fan of this. Of course I can simply not use the application but I do not buy the complete battery life argument. There will be hits but to report to Apple is a bit disconcerting.

Just my 2 cents.

What are you babbling about? It says NOTHING about them tracking your location. What it says is that instead of having apps running in the background, the software will be able to push alerts to you, similar to how it pushes email right now. Now, some apps will have the option of tracking your location (that AP news app and that social networking app comes to mind), but that doesn't go through Apple's servers. And for the record, if you have a phone purchased in the last few years, your location can be tracked already.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CJon

Anyone know if the new iPhone 3G can handle MMS? I hate that viewmymessage.com website... will developers be able to create MMS clients that can txt pics as opposed to email them?

Thanks

They've already done it if you have a jailbroken phone. It isn't difficult to do at all. That said, it's ludicrous that at this point basic features still aren't being implemented.

Quote:

Originally Posted by melgross

That's assuming that Apple tracks this data, rather that just letting it through. It's not likely that they are saving it either.

I really couldn't care less, as it can be done with any phone.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NOFEER

voice dialing via app store??? or is this a dead issue, calif just past a law about handsfree, voice dialing is hands free, come on apps store do me good.

I agree with you 100%. Like you said, I just hope they are not tracking with this data. In fact, did you read about this "study" where mobile users were tracked without their permission? It was either on CNN (online) or on The BBC (online).

AT&T is already sharing all of your call data and emails with the federal government.

Back to the OP, I have much less concern about Apple knowing my location.

Another question I have would be if the people in the middle of a two year contract can get the $299 price by extending their current contract or if they aren't "a qualifying customer."

I know theres always an arsehole like me who expected more, but I did expect more.
Maybe I was a sucker for the fake leaked pictures showing a thinner all video conferencing iPhone. But it seems to me that our imaginations have got way ahead of Steves and Apples.

\tSo its 7mms thicker. Is it smaller in any way compared to the original?
\tThe camera is the same (no better).
\tNo video conferencing.

But its the detail that's beginning to bug me. Like:

\tTheyre selling it as the phone of speed. But youre still not going to able to download a song from the iTunes store via 3G. Why is that? Is it legal red tape? Because its making Apple look stupid.
\tWhy isnt there a file manager so I can save all the PDFs and .jpegs I receive in the mail. What is Apple afraid of, that the filing cabinet wont look Gay Chic?

Evidence: Apple Store, iPhone site, and Apple press release make no mention of future online sales. They only mention the Apple retail store and AT&T retail store as "where to buy". The original 2007 press release of the iPhone mentioned the online stores (Apple and AT&T), but the new press release does not and mentions only the brick-and-mortar stores. This is not an accidental omission.

Theory: the iPhone's price drop is possible because cost is now subsidized by the $10 increase in the service plan. To get an iPhone you will now be required to show up in person and sign up for a plan on the spot, to promote lock-in.

You'd think this would be news but Apple didn't announce this change and we're left to connect the dots.

It's not news because you're making wild accusations based on little or no evidence. Tinfoil hat, anyone?

Apple reinvented the way mobile phones are sold with the iPhone a year ago by letting people buy them freely and take them home to activate. They're not going to reverse that policy a year later and go back to the "old school" method of forcing people to sign contracts in the store.

The bottom line is that Apple doesn't worry nearly as much as people think about iPhones that end up on other carriers or in other countries. A sale is a sale. Even at $199, I'm willing to bet Apple isn't losing money on an iPhone sale. That's just not the way Apple does things.

There will be an increase in monthly service cost, of course, because you will be on 3G. That's standard for all cell phone providers. No one offers 3G speeds for the same price as EDGE speeds.

Again, no big conspiracy going on here. If it does end up being true that the iPhone will no longer be sold online, I imagine that's due to shipping costs more than anything else.

But you can still pick one up at an Apple store with no activation or pushy AT&T sales people. The lack of an online option is probably to drive customers to Apple stores to see macs as well, and to deal with the incredible demand.

I'm not sure that is a given. They may change that before the 11th of July.

where did att announce the prices going up $10/mo? I can't find that anywhere, am I missing something?

Well, it's likely to go up because of the 3G speed. This is a given, though. This is not Apple doing something dastardly to its customers. If you get a 3G Blackberry, you're going to pay more for 3G, too.

Funny, how all of a sudden people want to talk about the "life of the contract" instead of the upfront costs. I remember some people getting shot down last year when they rightly pointed out that most $99 Windows mobile devices are actually more expensive than an iPhone over the life of the contract.

It looks like iPhone 3G still doesn't support voice dialing. What's with that? Handsfree cell phone use while driving is becoming mandatory in most states and much of Europe, and dialing while driving is probably more dangerous than talking while driving. Nearly every cell phone has this feature. And every mac since about 1990 has supported voice recognition. This should have been a no-brainer on iPhone 1; there's no excuse for omitting it on the new one.

That's simply a matter of a software update, which could happen at any time. And because of the iPhone accounting model, it would be free.

Even so, the required contract is 2 years. So you're still saving $80, a pretty sizeable price cut.

Not really. I'm well-aware that the carrier subsidy isn't a 'gimme', and have been educating ppl as to the fact for years, both here and elsewhere. You make far too many assumptions.

In any case, I think the new 3G iPhone is quite the deal. My main complaint is that I don't want to go through ATT for service, they're quite mediocre where I live/work.

.

I'm just going by what you said. It's a good deal if you can still get one without activation and unlock it. Then it's a steal.

But more generally its now just the same as all the other phones in term of subsidisation, Apple gave up and joined the crowd and rightly so. It's almost certain that that phone is costing the phone companies more but they are subsiding the cost instead of having the Apple kickback.

I know theres always an arsehole like me who expected more, but I did expect more.
Maybe I was a sucker for the fake leaked pictures showing a thinner all video conferencing iPhone. But it seems to me that our imaginations have got way ahead of Steves and Apples.

\tSo its 7mms thicker. Is it smaller in any way compared to the original?
\tThe camera is the same (no better).

It's not 7mm thicker. More like 0.5 mm thicker, i.e. barely and not noticeably.

It is disappointing that the camera isn't significantly better, though.

Anyone know if the new iPhone 3G can handle MMS? I hate that viewmymessage.com website... will developers be able to create MMS clients that can txt pics as opposed to email them?

Don't fret, there will at least be a option to send them witha 3rd-party app. And AT&T subscribers may have a 3rd-party app that can parse the username and password of viewmyapp.com to get theirs with no hassle.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dagamer34

but what about making sure that e-mails that I send end up in Gmail?

Just use your Gmail account as the outgoing SMTP server on your iPhone.

[QUOTE=MiMiC;1262133I can't see why the above list would be that hard to implement.[/QUOTE]
ost of that can be done with 3rd-party apps. You have to give Apple credit, they did address many of the biggest issues people have with the iPhone.

Quote:

Originally Posted by halfyearsun

I noticed a removeable sim card. The old iPhone didn't have that, correct?

Yes it did, in the same place as the new one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by merdhead

Thicker is not better. It's a negative. You like having your phone bigger?

it's a half a mm thicker, and since it is more contoured I bet it will feel smallerand betterin one's hand.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robehren

Wait a second... so is this or is this not the "new iphone" everybody has been talking about? whats this about a front-facing camera i've been hearing about?

my real question is this:

i have been waiting for a phone and saving up for the "new iphone." is this that, or is there a newer one coming out?

any help would be appreciated.

Welcome to AI, Roberhren! This is the one. The front-facing camera was a rumour that has turned out ot be false.

But I expect we'll see it within a year from now, along with a higher res screen, as they are becoming the standard on multi-function phones.

Quote:

Originally Posted by merdhead

Old price $399, new price $199, $10 extra per month over the life of the contract, $240 + $199 = $439.

What is the extra $10/month for? Are you assuming that the telcos will charge more for the unlimited data part of the package?

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

I'm just going by what you said. It's a good deal if you can still get one without activation and unlock it. Then it's a steal.

But more generally its now just the same as all the other phones in term of subsidisation, Apple gave up and joined the crowd and rightly so. It's almost certain that that phone is costing the phone companies more but they are subsiding the cost instead of having the Apple kickback.

I think it's a good deal either way now. And I've seen no info yet that Apple has given up taking their monthly kickback from ATT... would be interesting if that were the case.

It's not news because you're making wild accusations based on little or no evidence. Tinfoil hat, anyone?

Apple reinvented the way mobile phones are sold with the iPhone a year ago by letting people buy them freely and take them home to activate. They're not going to reverse that policy a year later and go back to the "old school" method of forcing people to sign contracts in the store.

The bottom line is that Apple doesn't worry nearly as much as people think about iPhones that end up on other carriers or in other countries. A sale is a sale. Even at $199, I'm willing to bet Apple isn't losing money on an iPhone sale. That's just not the way Apple does things.

There will be an increase in monthly service cost, of course, because you will be on 3G. That's standard for all cell phone providers. No one offers 3G speeds for the same price as EDGE speeds.

Again, no big conspiracy going on here. If it does end up being true that the iPhone will no longer be sold online, I imagine that's due to shipping costs more than anything else.

Oh please. You believe Apple's self serving drivel.

3G isn't going to cost the phone companies much more than 2G. 3G has more capacity and lower cost per byte, which already has a marginal cost very close to zero. People may use a little more data but certainly nothing justifying a 50% increase in the data cost.

Apple is back off any number of 'innovations' they pioneered with the iPhone, and non-activation will most likely be another one.

Apple will lose money on a non-activated $100 phone, and with the level of unlocking they will lose lots of money. Either they will make locking unbreakable (difficult but ultimately possible) or they will abandon non-activation.